LACMTA Expo Line to open April 28

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's new light-rail line between downtown Los Angeles and Culver City will open to the public on Saturday, April 28. This opening will be the segment from downtown Los Angeles to the Expo/La Cienega Station. Construction work continues on the Culver City station, which is expected to open later this summer.

Poised to start regular revenue service to the public in late April, LACMTA will begin full pre-revenue expanded operation of test trains along the Expo Line corridor beginning Sunday, March 25, running trains from 4:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., seven days a week, on a schedule of approximately every 12 minutes to simulate regular service on the line once the system opens to the public on April 28.

For the past month, test trains had been operating along the alignment from approximately 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. The additional train testing is needed in an effort to test the operation of the trains and the integration of Expo Line service with Blue Line service in downtown Los Angeles.

Phase 1 of the Expo Line is a new $932 million, 8.6-mile light-rail line under construction from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City. It will have 12 stations with two stations shared with the Blue Line. The new light-rail line will serve USC, Exposition Park, the Mid-City communities, the Crenshaw District and Culver City.

Phase 2 of the Expo Line, a $1.5 billion, 6.6-mile extension from Culver City to Santa Monica, is funded under the Measure R half-cent sale tax initiative approved by the voters in 2008. Phase 2 will have seven stations serving West Los Angeles/Santa Monica and is expected to be completed in 2016.